The Bank of Ireland has reported a loss of 1.8bn ($2.3bn) for fiscal 2012 the back of loan write offs due to the property crash.
The 15% state owned bank took 1.7bn in impairment charges, versus 1.9bn in 2011, of which 462m was on mortgages and 797m on construction and property loans.
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In 2011 the bank posted a 40m profit thanks to a debt write-off.
2011 would have been equally as damaging for the bank if it wasn’t for an agreement by the banks lenders to accept shares in the bank in place of money owed to them, saving the bank 1.8bn.
Richie Boucher, Bank of Ireland’s group chief executive, said: "While the economic environment has improved somewhat in recent months it still remains difficult and the Group continues to face many challenges.
"However, we are starting to see some of the benefits flowing from the focus we have had over the past four years on our strategic objectives aimed at enhancing our core franchises and rebuilding profitability within a restructured, robust balance sheet.
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By GlobalData"My colleagues and I must, and will, continue to keep this focus during 2013 as we strive to reward our shareholders for their patience and their confidence in the Group."
In some metrics the troubled lender shows improvement. Total customer deposits were up to 75bn from 71bn in 2011.
The Bank of Ireland’s loan to deposit ratio fell 21 percentage points in 2012 to 123%.
Assets at the bank were down to 148bn from 155bn in 2011.
Underlying net interest margin at the bank was 1.25%, down from 1.33% in 2011.
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